Australian Letter Higher Living Standards In Australia

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29374, 29 November 1960, Page 15

Australian Letter Higher Living Standards In Australia

tSpeciollv written for the N.Z.P.A. by FRANK PUDDICOMBE] In spite of the bitter outcry that the Federal Government’s new anti-inflation measures would give a severe jolt to the national economy, an exhaustive survey shows that Australian living standards are now far better than ever before.

•The survey, by the Institute of Public Affairs, found that living standards had advanced substantially over the last decade. After a complete investigation of available statistics, specially appointed officers of the institute found many examples of improvement in living standards in everyday life. These included: street upon street of bright modern homes; lush crops of television antennae; the multiplication of household appliances; and cars packing the roads.

The institute found that the weekly expenditure of an average family of four increased by about 15 per cent, from the late 1940’s to the late 1950’5. About half the increase in expenditure

had been on homes, cars and durable goods financed on terms. “People today are spending a lower proportion of their incomes on basic necessities,” the investigators said. “The greater proportion goes on comforts and luxuries—clear evidence of rising living standards. The survey showed expenditure on food and clothing had declined. “This may be partly due to the changing age-structure of the population and changing customs, such as more entertainment at home with television,” the institute stated. * * # Young Alcoholics More young people than ever before are becoming alcoholics.

according to figures published in Sydney this week. Mr A. P. Diehm, secretary of the Langton Clinic for Alcoholism, founded in Sydney last year, said in the annual report that so far the clinic had been barely able to scratch the surface of the problem of alcoholism. A second clinic is to be established in Sydney. “Ten years ago the average age of alcoholics was from 49 onwards,” said Mr Diehm. “Now there’s been a tremendous rise in the 20 to 35 age group. “Teenagers are unfortunately introduced to drink at the age of their greatest emotion. They start to drink heavily at a time when they are not able to adjust themselves. A lot forget there is any other form of entertainment,” said Mr Diehm. At present thousands of alcoholics a year go to prison for drinking in parks. The Langton Clinic’s finding is that prison does them more harm than good. It hopes that eventually they will be sent to the clinic instead of to prison. The South Australian Government intends to establish a home, or specialised institution, at a cost of nearly £500,000 for the rehabilitation of alcoholics. The Premier, Sir Thomas Playford, said this week alcoholism accounted for more than 43 per cent, of all prison sentences in South Australia last year. ® . >3 Satellite Cities Satellite cities are now being planned in Sydney and Brisbane. The New South Wales Housing Commission will build an 8000home suburb in the outer suburban area of Rooty Hill. In Queensland, a £lO million scheme will be launched near Brisbane next year on what is now mainly farm land at Darra. The Sydney scheme will cost about £3O million and will house more than 32,000 persons. The Minister for Housing (Mr A. Landa) this week announced the “freezing” of 2000 acres of rural land in the Rooty HillMount Druitt area as the site for the satellite town. This will be the largest housing project attempted in the State. About 80 per cent, of the 8000 dwellings will be available for sale on terms which provide for a minimum deposit of £5O and a maximum repayment period of 45 years. Interest will be at 4j per cent. At present another “garden suburb” is being created by the Housing Commission at Hoxton Park. This provides for 6000 homes at a cost of £25,000,000 which will house about 23,400 persons. The two garden suburbs will house about 55,000 persons in 14.000 homes in projects which will cost a total of £55 million. The satellite city development scheme for Brisbane will take about 10 years to complete. It will .include the construction of a £350.000 road bridge across the Brisbane river, and a main road and bus routes costing a total of £985.000

The scheme will comprise a dozen "suburbs” each self-con-tained, with schools, shops and churches. It will bave a drive-in shopping area in one main centre of 65 acres. While most of the land has been acquired for the settlement, one Brisbane man refused an offer of £400.000 for 400 acres of key land. The man, Mr H. Sinnamon, said he held the land in Darra in “sacred trust" from his pioneer family. A director of the company which is to construct the satellite town said plans provided for the main road of the settlement to go through Mr Sinnamon’s property. Other land in the area has been bought at £4OO an acre, but offers as high as £lOOO an acre have not induced Sinnamon to sell. The construction company has even offered to re-locate two dairy farms 'on Mr

land, but this offer has also been rejected. Mr Sinnamon said his people pioneered the land JOO years ago and there was a great deal of sentiment attaching to it. “Money isn’t everything,” he said. Real estate authorities feel that with proper planning, satellite cities could overcome Australia’s growing pains. For some time past the New South Wales Government has toyed with the idea of establishing a satellite city * Attitude To Gambling For the second time in three years a survey of licensed clubs and gambling, particularly on poker machines, is being held by the Australian Hotels’ Association. The survey is to determine whether the public’s attitude to clubs and poker machines has changed. It will reveal whether clubs have been accepted as part of New South Wales’ social fabric. In a questionnaire sent to all clubs, six questions are asked about gambling. Members are asked if they consider all forms of gambling and lotteries should be made illegal There are now more than 1000 licensed clubs in New South Wales, and their popularity has seriously affected the hotel trade. Teacher Shortage The teacher shortage in New South Wales is now so acute that former teacher-housewives are being brought in on a part-time or hourly basis. The secretary of the New South Wales Parent-Teacher Education Council (Mr I. G. Lancaster) said that although a huge increase in teen-agers was expected in the sixties, nothing was being done to provide additional teaching colleges to train the necessary teachers. This was in spite of the fact that thousands of qualified young people wanted to enter the profession. At the beginning of this year, 772 qualified applicants were refused teacher training scholarships because no accommodation was available. * * ® Dogs v. Postmen An Animal Welfare League officer and a veterinary surgeon this week presented the dog’s side of the dogs v. Postmen controversy. Australia’s 37,000 postal workers this week are framing demands for a final solution to the problem caused by dogs which bite postmen. The Postmaster-General said last week that postmen would not deliver letters to addresses where there were savage dogs. The Animal Welfare League officer (Mr George Mole) said the trouble with dogs was people. Their owners should teach them not to annoy friendly people like postmen and should reprimand them the first time they barked at one.

The veterinary surgeon said that the postman’s bag was to blame. He said that if veterinary surgeons entered a property without a bag they were left alone, but if they carried a bag, they were attacked.